Troubled German lender IKB Deutsche Industriebank said it has received nine bids to acquire it, and set a deadline of mid-May for "substantiated bids".

IKB was put up for sale by its majority owners, state development bank KfW, which holds 45.5%, and Stiftung Industrieforschung, which has 10.7%, in January. The bank was the first casualty of the sub-prime crisis last July, when several of its off-balance sheet conduits ran into trouble.